Halloween Party Time! 3 Quick Low-Carve Projects

It isn't a Halloween party without funny pumpkins, even if you are, er, well past the trick-or-treating stage. You can be boring and just display uncut gourds around the place, or you can get crazy creative with the knife and decals. But who has time for that? We've got cooking to do! Drinks to prepare!

Case in point: a recent pumpkin-themed birthday party for one of my best friends, who is as equally obsessed with all things Halloween as I am. Not wanting to settle for a bunch of Jack-o-Lanterns with a lazy eye as decor (I suck at carving them), I had to get creative.

Here are 3 quick, low-carve Halloween projects:

Instead of using regular holiday lights to set the party mood, create pumpkin ones out of turnips (seen above). First, cut the tops off and hollow them out with a melon baller, careful to keep them sturdy. Next, cut two holes, one on each side, to string the lights through. You want to cut the holes near the top, so they hang down. Then, using an X-acto knife, cut faces into each turnip.

To make them look more like tiny pumpkins, spray paint them orange. You can skip this step because between the darkness and the orange holiday lights, coloring them doesn't make a huge difference (they look like tiny pumpkins in the photo, right?).

Now that you have your handmade Jack-o, string the lights through and hang. The turnips are pretty heavy, so you need to use something a little stronger than tape or simple desk tacks. If you're concerned about holes, you can use heavy-duty tape.

At my party, we had treats, lots and lots of treats, and the buckets that contained the treats were made of treats, because, let's face it, you can never have too much candy. Poke holes through a hollowed out pumpkin, stick some lollipops in there, and fill it with various candies. It's such a simple idea, yet turns an ordinary bowl of candy into a festively themed one.

Sometimes even pumpkins get a little too crazy with the booze. Put this sick guy in the bathroom, grossing out guests when they walk in to do their business. Get ready to hear lots of "Ewwws!" followed by laughter coming from behind the bathroom door. We made the squinched face (doesn't he look like he's in pain?) with thumb tacks, and had the guts we previously scooped out from him falling out of his mouth. Gah, some pumpkins just can't handle their liquor.

Have you made any Halloween decor projects this year? Have anything planned?